KARACHI: A book titled Aik Lapata Shehr Ka Suragh by eminent scholar and writer Ramazan Baloch and published by the Institute of Historical and Social Research was launched at the Arts Council on Friday evening.

Presiding over the event, poet and journalist Mahmood Shaam said he was asked to write the foreword to the book which he named Aik Lapata Shehr Ka Suragh (in search of a missing city). The author and publisher liked it and gave the book the same name.

Mr Shaam said he had never thought that he`d spent so many years of his life in Karachi. The city that once seemed one`s own from afar, after living here for 57 years,still seems a bit miffed (rootha).

`Its own people, and those who came here from various cities of India, and those who came to it in search of better economic prospects from other parts of Pakistan, have ill treated it. The city never asked anyone about their identity. Although Karachi is no more the capital of the country, it`s the soul of Pakistan. Until it was the capital of the country, Pakistan remained one.

He said Karachi has its own psychology like any other coastal town. Mr Baloch`s effort is a precious addition to the publications written on the history of Karachi.

`The Benazir Bhutto University in Lyari could award him an honorary PhD for it.

Earlier, Dr Jaffer Ahmed, who runs the institute that`s come out with the research work, said the institute had given the project to Mr Baloch which he, after a great deal of hard work, completed in a year`s time.

Pointing out the importance of a people`s history of the city, he argued, `In order to do that, one needs to get in touch with the masses and visit the streets and neighbourhoods of the city... The book describes the social change that`s occurred in Karachi.The author has done his job to our satisfaction but it`s now public property.

Distinguished architect Dr Noman Ahmed said the book is important because it follows all the principles of research. The author has given multiple references from books and journals which provide facts for what he`s saying in the book.

`We have very little information on the period before the arrival of the British in Karachi. Mr Baloch has nicely given an account of that evolutionary process. Then in the British era, institutions such as the Karachi Port Trust were set up which to date are running Karachi.

`In the beginning of the book, the author mentions a very important organisation the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In that regard he talks about one of the former mayors of Karachi, Jamshed Nusserwanji, who in great distress had once brought a donkeyin a poor condition to the hospital. The donkey had been badly handled by its owner. The mayor left the hospital after arranging for the animal`s medical treatment.

Dr Ahmed said while writing about postindependence Karachi, the author under-lines the fact that institutions that ran Karachi were accountable to the public and the administration.

`Mr Baloch has also written about those migrants who came here, but after assessing the unfavourable situation went back [to India] where they were not welcomed.

This signifies the plight of many who were destroyed by the partition and it took them generations to recover,` he said.

Academic and writer Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan said the author is a silent public historian, who in his younger days was influenced by the Progressive Writers Movement.

Dr Riaz Shaikh said Mr Baloch has given a social history of Karachi. He also spoke on how Karachi turned from an agrarian society to a mercantile one.

Sabina Khatri said Mr Baloch is a refined and balanced individual. His book has that balanced aspect, too, she said.

Karachi Press Club president Saeed Sarbazi said all the stakeholders of Karachi should read the book.

Hani Baloch said the book highlights the brighter days and darker nights of Karachi.

Ramazan Baloch, the author, thanked thespeakers and went down memory lane to share his memories of the Karachi which used to have more than a dozen cinemas where award-winning Hollywood films such as Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia were screened.